Upland moa

Upland moa; Temporal range: Pleistocene-Holocene
	Mounted skeleton
Conservation status
	Extinct
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Infraclass:	Palaeognathae
Clade:	Notopalaeognathae
Order:	†Dinornithiformes
Family:	†Megalapterygidae; Bunce et al., 2009
Genus:	†Megalapteryx; Haast 1886
Species:	†M. didinus
Binomial name
	Megalapteryx didinus; (Owen, 1883)
Synonyms
	list Palaeocasuarius Forbes 1892 ex Rothschild 1907 ; Dinornis didinus Owen 1882 ex Owen 1883 ; Anomalopteryx didina (Owen 1883) Lydekker 1891 ; Megalapteryx hectori Haast 1884 ex Haast 1886 ; Megalapteryx tenuipes Lydekker, 1891 ; Megalapteryx hamiltoni Rothschild 1907 ; Palaeocasuarius velox Forbes 1892 ex Rothschild 1907 ; Palaeocasuarius elegans Rothschild 1907 ; Palaeocasuarius haasti Forbes 1892 ex Rothschild 1907 ; Megalapteryx benhami Archey 1941 ;

The upland moa (Megalapteryx didinus) was a type of moa. It only lived in New Zealand. It could not fly. It was the last moa species to become extinct.^[3]

Description

The upland moa was among the smallest type of moa. It had feathers all over its body except for its beak and the bottom of its feet.^[4]

Distribution and Habitat

The upland moa only lived on New Zealand's South Island. It lived high up in mountains and sub-alpine regions.^[5]

Behavior and ecology

The upland moa was a herbivore. It ate leaves and small twigs.^[5] It usually laid only 1 to 2 blue-green coloured eggs.^[6]^[5] The male moa took care of the baby moas.^[4] Its only predator before humans came to New Zealand was the Haast's eagle.^[5]

Extinction

Humans first came to New Zealand from Polynesia around 1250 to 1300 AD. Moas, were an easy source of food for the Māori people and were eventually hunted to extinction in 1500.^[5]

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Brands, S. (2008)
↑ Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependency Antarctica" (PDF). Te Papa Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
↑ Grzimek, Bernhard (2003–2004). Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia. Neil Schlager, Donna Olendorf, American Zoo and Aquarium Association (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale. ISBN 0-7876-5362-4. OCLC 49260053.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 1956-, Flannery, Tim F. (Tim Fridtjof) (2001). A gap in nature : discovering the world's extinct animals. Text Pub. ISBN 1-876485-77-9. OCLC 48951590. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 "Loading... | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 2021-08-29.
↑ Igic, Branislav; Greenwood, David R.; Palmer, David J.; Cassey, Phillip; Gill, Brian J.; Grim, Tomas; Brennan, Patricia L. R.; Bassett, Suzanne M.; Battley, Phil F. (2010). "Detecting pigments from colourful eggshells of extinct birds". Chemoecology. 20 (1): 43–48. doi:10.1007/s00049-009-0038-2. ISSN 0937-7409. S2CID 10956718.

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[tax-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Brands, S. (2008)

[2] Checklist Committee Ornithological Society of New Zealand (2010). "Checklist-of-Birds of New Zealand, Norfolk and Macquarie Islands and the Ross Dependency Antarctica" (PDF). Te Papa Press. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 4 January 2016.

[3] Grzimek, Bernhard (2003–2004). Grzimek's animal life encyclopedia. Neil Schlager, Donna Olendorf, American Zoo and Aquarium Association (2nd ed.). Detroit: Gale. ISBN 0-7876-5362-4. OCLC 49260053.

[:0-4] 4.0 ^4.1 1956-, Flannery, Tim F. (Tim Fridtjof) (2001). A gap in nature : discovering the world's extinct animals. Text Pub. ISBN 1-876485-77-9. OCLC 48951590. {{cite book}}: |last= has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[:1-5] 5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 "Loading... | Collections Online - Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Retrieved 2021-08-29.

[6] Igic, Branislav; Greenwood, David R.; Palmer, David J.; Cassey, Phillip; Gill, Brian J.; Grim, Tomas; Brennan, Patricia L. R.; Bassett, Suzanne M.; Battley, Phil F. (2010). "Detecting pigments from colourful eggshells of extinct birds". Chemoecology. 20 (1): 43–48. doi:10.1007/s00049-009-0038-2. ISSN 0937-7409. S2CID 10956718.

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